Mayor Merola in Brussels for the Eurocities’ summit on the Future of Europe

On March 7th, Mayor Merola flew to Brussels to attend the Mayors’ Summit on the Future of Europe  - an event organized by Eurocities to raise the EU institution’s awareness about urban policies and issues, and to debate the worrying trend of rising Euroscepticism and populism.
In particular, Mayor Merola held a speech within the panel “A new democracy in Europe – co-creation and citizens’ engagement”, bringing a few Best Practices examples experienced by the City of Bologna as regards  citizens’ collaboration and participation.The Summit gathered 17 mayors and 17 vice mayors from cities across Europe, including Mayor Merola and also mayors of other Italian cities like Florence and Venice - and representatives from the European institutions, and was following up on the ‘Rethinking Europe’ debate at Eurocities’ annual conference held in November 2016 in Milan. In that occasion, an open letter was issued to the major EU institutions, raising concerns about the future of the European project, following the Brexit vote, growing Euroscepticism and disconnect between citizens and the European institutions.As Europe prepares to celebrate 60 years since the Treaty of Rome, that marked the foundation of the European Economic Community, Mayors of Eurocities’ members ask the European leaders to work more with cities, involving citizens  in the decision making process, subsequently raising their awareness on the European project’s principles and importance.
While in Brussels, Mayor Merola also had the chance to meet representatives of EU institutions, like Gianni Pittella, President of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament.

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Ultimo aggiornamento: martedì 14 marzo 2017